Hanne Hukkelberg lands strong The Wire review

Master of quirky electronica and minimalist beauty Hanne Hukkelberg receives acclaim upon the international release of her debut album ‘Little Things’.

‘Little Things’ saw its domestic release last year and the album was then met with a string of very strong reviews in the national press. A set of highly memorable live appearances followed in the wake of the album’s strong reception.

Now, the Oslo-based singer-songwriter and producer is poised for international attention with the release of her debut album on the UK label The Leaf Label. Hukkelberg’s international campaign has been kick-started by a very positive review in the latest issue of The Wire Magazine.

Writes The Wire’s Louise Gray: “Following on the heels of Norwegian singers Sidsel Endresen and Susanna Wallumrød of Magical Orchestra fame comes Hanne Hukkelberg. True, this debut album from the Oslo singer-songwriter probably leans more towards the stripped-down songs typified by The Magical Orchstra thatn Endresen’s more mature and ruminative music, but Little Things has an elegant charm that is very much its own.

In one way, the title tells the story. Little Things makes much of the incidental. Over the two years of its making, Hukkelberg collected a host of objects – brooms, bicycle spokes and, if ears serve well, hubcaps - to add to the predictable orchestration of a group headed by Kåre Vestrheim. The effect is of a heightened almost hyperreal attentiveness so disarming that suddenly all the unusual pairings and approaches make sense. The light, bell-like cascades of “Little Girl” that signal a change in register; the Hawaiian guitar and castanets of “Cast Anchor”; the sweet accordion motif and uncertain electronic percussion of “Boble”? It all works.

In formal terms, the quality of Hukkelberg’s singing and songwriting gives notice that the 12 songs of Little Things represent only the start of a promising career. She’s got a beautifully nuanced voice with a timbre that shifts easily to occupy both intimate and larger spaces. Her songs display similar flexibility. “Do As I Do” and “Displaced” play on a vampishness that pleads for their own place in a fantasy of Hollywood extravagance. Fantasy, and no more. Little Things is rooted in the strength of an extraordinary ordinariness and that’s what makes Hukkelberg’s album so compelling.”

Hanne Hukkelberg’s ‘Little Things’ is set for international release in June through The Leaf Label.

Hukkelberg’s previous outing, the ‘Cast Anchor’ EP is out now on The Leaf Label.

On 28 May Hanne Hukkelberg & band are set to play Moscow’s Kitaisky Leotchik Jao Da as part of Oslo club Blå’s unique cultural exchange project. More info here.